Just a week ago, NBC News reported that a 12-year old walked into a New Mexico middle school gymnasium, armed with a sawed-off shotgun. He shot two students. Both sustained serious injuries. Yesterday, The Dispatch reported that a 4-year old boy in Detroit was fatally shot by his 4-year old cousin, a girl. According to […]
Kids shot accidentally because of easy access to guns Read Post »
Rep. Bill Patmon, D-Cleveland, is sponsoring H.B. 31 that, if passed, will require all firearms to be either safely secured or locked when they are kept in residences and there are minors about who can gain access to the firearms. Gun advocates view the bill as an infringement of their rights. I understand the concerns
Gun storage bill is about safety Read Post »
Secretary of State John Husted is advocating on-line voting. Regrettably, politics are in play whenever it comes to anything related to voting. Democrats want to improve access to the voting polls, while Republicans voice concern about the problems that come with greater access. Rep. Michael Stinziano, D-Columbus, stated, “I’ve been told that there are folks
Voting is too important to be subject to political haggling Read Post »
On December 10, the Ohio Supreme Court will hear a case concerning short term, high interest loans known as payday loans. The focus of the case is the breadth of the Short-Term Loan Act, which limits how much lenders can charge. Payday loans are prevalent throughout the state. Some consider these loans to be usurious
Ohio Supreme Court to hear payday loan case Read Post »
A Pennsylvania law that bans same-sex marriage is being challenged in federal court. The case recently survived a motion to dismiss, meaning the case is headed for trial. As a minister once said when addressing the issue, let’s not confuse “rites with rights.” When gays are denied the right to marry, it’s done on moral
Challenge to same-sex marriage law in Pennsylvania Read Post »
Ohio House Bill 203, which proposes a “stand your ground law,” passed the house two days ago. The bill changes Ohio’s self-defense law such that anyone facing bodily harm, so long as he is in a place he is lawfully allowed to be, has no duty to retreat before using deadly force in his defense.
Is there evidence to support Ohio’s proposed “stand your ground law?” Read Post »
A Columbus, Ohio, teacher has suggested in a letter to the editor that teachers who have a concealed carry license be permitted to carry their firearms in the classroom. He proposes the idea to help make “school buildings safer.” With so many mass shootings nationwide, it’s easy to understand why the idea is raised, but
Should teachers carry guns? Read Post »
The Ohio State Bar Association has long supported the idea of merit appointment/retention elections for judges but has done little to actually promote the idea since the failed referendum in 1987. I don’t understand the value in the OSBA voicing support for merit appointment when our association does not actively work to achieve it. In
The Ohio State Bar Association should take a lesson from our chief justice Read Post »
Yesterday, The Columbus Dispatch published a story about a significant cut in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps. The cut will mean about $193 million less in food stamps during the next nine months for Ohioans. According to the Children’s Hunger Alliance, about one out of six kids are already going
Food stamps create dependency says Rep. Bob Gibbs Read Post »
Morality aside, death penalty far more costly than life terms. In the 2005, jurors in FranklinCounty, Ohio, were asked 4 times whether the death penalty should be imposed. On Sept. 27, convicted killer Herman Ashworth was executed for a murder he committed in Newark. The morality of the death penalty is a subject of debate, but maybe
Morality aside, death penalty far more costly than life terms Read Post »
It’s déjà vu all over again. Romell Broom, convicted of murdering 14 year-old Tryna Middleton in 1984, is appealing his death warrant. Because he was already subjected to one botched attempt at lethal injection, his lawyers argue that a second attempt would violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. On December 8,
All of society pays a price for adherence to death penalty Read Post »
How many Ohio businesses run their operations with little regard for the expenditure of time and money? Ohio ignores both every time it sends an inmate to death row. Richard Beasley, the so-called Craigslist killer, was sentenced to death on April 4, 2013, for murdering three men. Based on the average stay on death row
Save millions by killing Ohio’s death penalty Read Post »